Reema Shaukat
The assertions of world’s largest democracy and secular state are spurned aside, when the people living in the so called secular state come up with total rejection of such claims through their actions. The plight of minorities in India is now an open secret. India which comprises of different minorities’including Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and Jainsentitles itself as human rights defender but unfortunately the ground realities are quite different and alarming. Definitely one can say that government in reign has given free hand to the policy makers and followers who are least concerned about human values and ethics.
Off and on media reports the condition and misery of minorities living in India. In past incidents like forced conversions to Hinduism with a name of program as Ghar Wapsi, was to counter Love Jihad campaign, inhumane treatment with Dalits considering them as the worst class in India, ban on cow slaughter, killing many Muslims in the name of religion and false allegations of eating beef. So, there is much sectarian hatred in India which is often portrayed in forms of violence and brutality. The extremist organizations are promoting saffronization of India by brain washing youth mindsets such as making compulsory education of Geeta, Maha Bharat and Hindu literature for Muslims in educational institutions. In past according to report released by Tom Lantos Human Rights Commissionimmoderations against religious minorities in India is a continuous marvel by using violence and disavowal of constitutional rights as the main tricks by Hindu extremists. Report shows India as an intolerant and unbearable country for religious minorities. Now a recent report by The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) says, in India, hate crimes against religious minorities, their social boycotts and forced conversions have escalated dramatically since 2014.The report titled as, “Constitutional and Legal Challenges Faced by Religious Minorities in India” examines the country’s constitution and national and state laws that discriminate against religious minorities and Dalits. The report says that India is a religiously diverse and democratic society with a constitution that provides legal equality for its citizens irrespective of their religion and prohibits religion-baseddiscrimination, however, the reality is far different. In fact, India’s pluralistic tradition faces serious challenges and during the past few years, religious tolerance has deteriorated and religious freedom violations have increased in some areas of India.
The report also claims that both by their design and implementation, anti-conversion laws infringe upon the individual’s right to convert, favour Hinduism over minority religions, and represent a significant challenge to Indian secularism.The report further states that since the inception of India in 1947, various efforts were made by the central government to pass nationwide legislation to control religious conversions in India.Recently, an incident came up in which more than 2,000 Dalits from Aligarh have threatened to give up Hinduism and convert to Islam, alleging constant persecution by members of the local Thakur community, identified as an “upper caste”. In Aligarhclash took place over the construction of a Bhairav Baba temple at the site of an abandoned well after their Thakur neighboursdemurred on its site. Local Dalit leaders said that after this incident they had decided to convert to Islam on account of the continued discrimination and harassment they suffered at the hands of upper caste Hindus. We are not consideredas a part of the Hindu community and abusive language is used against us. It is better for Dalits to convert to Islam. The Dalit community is considered as lower worst class in India and often shocking incidents come up against them. In another incident which has ignited between Dalits and locals in UP is that they cannot take hair cut at respective villageand have to travel long distance for the purpose of haircut. Since independence, the Valmiki (Dalit) of Sambhal, a city in UP, have to travel up to 20 kilometres to get a shave or haircut but recently a Muslim barber who is new to the village agreed to provide his services to a man from the community and unrest erupted after the fact became public.Once the barber learnt about the customs of the village, he refused to serve another Valmiki client, leading to a police complaint and a brawl between the two.However, the police claims interpersonal tensions between Valmikis and Muslim barbers triggered this incident. In past another incident was reported in which around 50 Dalit families in Moradabad immersed statues of Hindu deities in the river there and started greeting one another with the salutation, Salaamwalekum instead of the usual Ram Ram, following an increase in incidents of attacks on Dalits in Uttar Pradesh ever since the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government came to power.
One can easily sense, India’s rapid shift from its secularism to religious and social extremism. The RSS and other extremist elements must be checked and controlled to reduce communal riots and human rights violations. In short, Modi must review its hard lined and hawkish policies and work to create a balanced, peaceful and co-existent environment at home and abroad. A non-discriminatory and tolerant approach must be adopted towards all factions of Indian society.
